Biased

Bias.  The thought of working with it scares me.  I have visions of unintentionally wonky blocks that won't lay flat no matter what you do to them.  So when I saw that we were making Lone Star blocks in Let's Bee Together, I was scared.  Bias AND Y-seams - yikes!  But it turns out, the method she has us using to make the blocks doesn't include any Y-seams (yay!), and the fabric behaved, bias and all.  I love the fabric she sent, Kate Spain's Central Park, and enjoyed playing with it.  There was even enough scrap for me to add a 1.5" square of each of the 4 fabrics to my scrap tins.  :)

My two blocks - they aren't squared up per her instructions.  I could perhaps see me making this block for myself one day...perhaps.  Maybe as the center of a medallion quilt.

While sewing those, I worked on getting my Scrappy Strips Star quilt sewn together, as she sent the two blocks she made for me at the same time she sent her fabrics.  My goal is to have the top assembled before Saturday so I can take it with me to quilt on my first recruiting trip.  I think it is a perfect candidate for big stitch quilting with colorful embroidery floss.

Now, to completely change the subject - last Thursday and Friday was my office retreat.  As we have for the last 4 years, we spent the night at Fort Lewis Lodge - I love that place!  Not only is it beautiful, but there are quilts on every bed!  This was my room this year.  I have made a point of sleeping in a different room every year so I can enjoy ALL the quilts.

Then, this weekend, a friend visited from Atlanta, and I had a great time showing her around south western Virginia.  I know I am biased, but it is breathtakingly beautiful here.  Seeing it through someone else's eyes helped remind me of how blessed I am to live here.  We went places I've never been, and did things I've never done.  For one thing, we bought an enormous whole trout and cooked it on the grill.  My kids were quite impressed that the head was still attached to the fish (ick!), and Jason declared that he wanted the head.  My friend's husband is from Cameroon, and she explained how the head is actually the "honor piece".  I was skeptical, but she showed him how to remove the meat from the head, and the fool even ate an EYEBALL!  If you are squeamish, look away NOW!

Bee Activity

We had our office retreat this week. Longtime followers will remember that we go to a wonderful lodge in the middle of the Virginia countryside, Fort Lewis Lodge, for two days of debriefing and goal-setting and bonding. I absolutely love it there! It is so serene and beautiful (with a quilt on every bed!). I didn't go kayaking this year, but I did go for a walk/run, spent a few minutes in the hot tub, and ate embarrassingly large quantities of their fantastic food. I justify myself by saying, "Well, it is a retrEAT, after all!"

(this photo, lifted from the Fort Lewis Lodge website, is of the outdoor pavilion where we have our meetings and where we hang out in front of the fire after the days work is done. Seriously, if you are ever visiting SW Virginia and looking for a spectacular place to say, I can't recommend this place highly enough)

When I arrived home on Thursday, I received my fabrics for the September Bee Block. I whipped it up yesterday, and will put it in the mail today.

I also received another of my August blocks back. (curious - even though I got my fabrics out to Bee participants early in the last week of July, I've only received 4 blocks back so far in the first week of September - is that normal?) Anyway, this block was worth the wait - it is wonderful!

Plus, she threw in some bonus black and white prints for me - I love the one with the fancy ladies walking their fancy dogs!


My quilting goals for this long weekend are to finish my June Birdie BOM and prep my August and September blocks so I can take them on the road with me (my first trip of the travel season starts a week from today - back to Atlanta), to make some more progress hand-quilting the Pick and Choose quilt, and practice some free motion quilting on some hot pads for my kitchen. My home life goals for this weekend are to enjoy a campout with the kids, complete my online training for cub scout den leader for this year, and clean up this pigsty I call a home.


I understand there are some people out there who actually enjoy cleaning. Are any of you strange creatures reading my blog? If so, do you want to come visit me?

Angela knows me WELL!

I only have a moment to write during a break at our office retreat, but I HAD TO SHARE yesterday's squishy mail. Any of you from the old blog remember Pay It Forward? Well, I received my Pay It Forward gift from Angela yesterday, just out of the blue. What a treat! Not only did she send this scrappy little mini-quilt (I think I'm going to use it as a placemat for my tea parties for one!), she also sent these romantic floral 5" charm squares. Thank you so much, Angela!


Speaking of scrappy, I have finished the blocks and the sashing for my Pick and Choose quilt. Here it is on the design wall, not yet sewn together.

I could look at this quilt all day - there are easily over a hundred different fabrics in there, from batiks and novelty to 1930s repro and Civil War repro and everything in between. Here's a close-up of some blocks chosen at random.

All I have left is to finish piecing the half-square triangle border blocks and sew it all together. Perhaps I can get it done during this long weekend. It is definitely one of my favorite quilts.

Anyway, we are on a two-day office retreat. Long meetings and lots of information, but my co-workers are some of the best possible, and we have lots of fun, too. We are spending tonight at the Fort Lewis Lodge. Check it out and see the hardships I have to suffer! I've got my suit for the hot tub and the kayak, and I am prepared to kick some butt tonight at ping pong and pool and whatever other fun we can rustle up after dinner.